Come join the lunchtime fun at the developer jam stage! Each day, select conference attendees will be paired with legendary agile programmers to perform live on stage before a panel of famous (and outspoken) judges. Watch the contestants test-drive tricky algorithms, refactor poorly designed code, and more. Audience members cast votes for who should ultimately be crowned as the winning duo.

What it is

"Programming with the Stars" (loosely modeled on the popular TV show "Dancing with the Stars") celebrates the art of professional programming. Its purpose is to promote expert agile development skills, raise awareness of those skills, and recognize those among our ranks who have attained a high degree of mastery. It's also a lot of fun!

Sponsored by: Industrial Logic

When & where

12:45 - 13:30 (during lunch)
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday
Riverside Center Exhibition Hall (Purple East)

How it works

We begin with six pairs of contestants. "Ordinary" conference attendees are each paired with a "star" (a well-known agile programming guru) for the week.

During the competition, each pair performs a prepared routine of 4-6 minutes in length based on an assigned category. Pairs can use any programming language and tools that they like, as long as they stay within the guidelines of the category. All of the pairing action shows
on the big screen, and microphones capture the intense dialogue between the pairs.

When time runs out, the panel of judges weigh in with their feedback and scores. Each judge awards up to 10 points for the performance, based on

• Effective pairing & collaboration
• Successful completion of the programming task
• Degree of improvisation and spontaneity
• Overall "impressiveness"

Once all pairs have performed each day, the audience casts the final vote for which of the lowest-scoring pairs should be eliminated. Two pairs are sent packing on Monday, then one more each on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, the final two teams face off for the ultimate crown.

The competition is also sprinkled with lively comedy from the hosts, outrageous commentary from the judges, and a smattering of guest performances along the way.

Prizes

First prize = $200 Visa gift card for each member of the pair
Runners up = $50 Visa gift card for each member of the pair

Competition categories

The following categories are used during the competition.

TDD from Scratch

Starting with a completely blank editor, create some sort of working code using the TDD process. BDD is also fine.

TDD onto Existing Codebase

Starting with existing code and unit tests (and decent test coverage), add some additional functionality using the TDD process.

Refactor

Starting with existing code and unit tests, improve the code without altering its behavior (as demonstrated by the tests).

SDD onto New or Existing Codebase

(SDD is Storytest-Driven Development, and is also known as Acceptance-Test-Driven Development). Use xUnit, FIT, FitNesse, Selenium, or a similar tool to drive the creation of some feature or story.

Demonstrate IDE Expertise

Wow the audience and judges with your proficiency in your development tool of choice

Participants

Hosts

• Joshua Kerievsky
• Jeff Nielsen

Judges

• Liz Keough
• Brian Marick
• Jim Newkirk

Contestants